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- D.Mont.: Delay of USPS Express Mail for dog sniff didn’t violate 4A
- S.D.W.Va.: Warrantless arrest at door for CSAM didn’t support plain view seizure of cell phone
- OH2: Parking on the grass justified stop
- CA11: NCMEC’s cybertips are reliable enough to support PC and the GFE
- MS: Execution style murder in public in broad daylight was exigency to get suspect’s CSLI
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
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"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me -
"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well."
–Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw), Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things (1868) (erroneously attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, among others) -
“I am still learning.”
—Domenico Giuntalodi (but misattributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (common phrase throughout 1500's)). -
"Love work; hate mastery over others; and avoid intimacy with the government."
—Shemaya, in the Thalmud -
"It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers."
—Charles Dickens, “The Old Curiosity Shop ... With a Frontispiece. From a Painting by Geo. Cattermole, Etc.” 255 (1848) -
"A system of law that not only makes certain conduct criminal, but also lays down rules for the conduct of the authorities, often becomes complex in its application to individual cases, and will from time to time produce imperfect results, especially if one's attention is confined to the particular case at bar. Some criminals do go free because of the necessity of keeping government and its servants in their place. That is one of the costs of having and enforcing a Bill of Rights. This country is built on the assumption that the cost is worth paying, and that in the long run we are all both freer and safer if the Constitution is strictly enforced."
—Williams v. Nix, 700 F. 2d 1164, 1173 (8th Cir. 1983) (Richard Sheppard Arnold, J.), rev'd Nix v. Williams, 467 US. 431 (1984). -
"The criminal goes free, if he must, but it is the law that sets him free. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence."
—Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 659 (1961). -
"Any costs the exclusionary rule are costs imposed directly by the Fourth Amendment."
—Yale Kamisar, 86 Mich.L.Rev. 1, 36 n. 151 (1987). -
"There have been powerful hydraulic pressures throughout our history that bear heavily on the Court to water down constitutional guarantees and give the police the upper hand. That hydraulic pressure has probably never been greater than it is today."
— Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 39 (1968) (Douglas, J., dissenting). -
"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property."
—Entick v. Carrington, 19 How.St.Tr. 1029, 1066, 95 Eng. Rep. 807 (C.P. 1765) -
"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed by the Fourth Amendment."
—United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) -
"The course of true law pertaining to searches and seizures, as enunciated here, has not–to put it mildly–run smooth."
—Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 618 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). -
"A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable."
—Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987) -
"For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. ... But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected."
—Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967) -
“Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded
rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
—United States v. Olmstead, 277 U.S. 438, 479 (1925) (Brandeis, J., dissenting)
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“Liberty—the freedom from unwarranted intrusion by government—is as easily lost through insistent nibbles by government officials who seek to do their jobs too well as by those whose purpose it is to oppress; the piranha can be as deadly as the shark.”
—United States v. $124,570, 873 F.2d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir. 1989) -
"You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometimes / You just might find / You get what you need."
—Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"In Germany, they first came for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for
the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came
for me–and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."
—Martin Niemöller (1945) [he served seven years in a concentration camp] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"The point of the Fourth Amendment, which often is not grasped by zealous officers, is not that it denies law enforcement the support of the usual inferences which reasonable men draw from evidence. Its protection consists in requiring that those inferences be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime."
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Category Archives: Overbreadth
OH12: SW for text messages on a cell phone was not overbroad where it was limited to messages from one person
Defendant was a police officer who was suspected of sexual battery of a student ride along. There were text messages, and a search warrant was obtained for his cell phone. The lack of a time frame for the text messages … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Govt’s email SW in identity theft scheme is overbroad; applications need to be limited and resubmitted
The government’s email search applications are overbroad and don’t sufficiently protect the privacy rights of the account holders. The government, however, can limit the applications and submit them again. “The Magistrate Judge’s denial of the search warrant applications was not … Continue reading
CA11: In search of computer for evidence of hacking, lack of time frame or search protocol doesn’t violate 4A
The search warrant for defendant’s computer was for evidence of “hacking” but produced child pornography. The lack of a time frame and search protocol for the search doesn’t make it violate the Fourth Amendment. “Considering the specific circumstances and complexities … Continue reading
CA11: Order to Apple to unlock iPad was reasonable under All Writs Act and New York Telephone
The district court’s order to Apple to unlock defendant’s iPad was reasonable and appropriate under the All Writs Act and United States v. New York Telephone Co. Also, seizing an entire Facebook account wasn’t “open and shut” a general warrant, … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: The email SW here was limited by time and crime and that made it reasonable and not a general warrant
It is too easy for an email warrant to be a general warrant because there has to be an articulation of what the government is looking for. Moreover, all the emails may be seized so they can be searched looking … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Govt’s email SW in identity theft scheme is overbroad; applications need to be limited and resubmitted
The government’s email search applications are overbroad and don’t sufficiently protect the privacy rights of the account holders. The government, however, can limit the applications and submit them again. In the Matter of the Search of Information Associated with Fifteen … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Email and computer SWs were necessarily broad, but not unreasonably broad
“These were not warrants to search for ‘any and all information’ or ‘all computer information’ in defendant’s house. See Christie, 717 F.3d at 1165. Rather, the attachments effectively limited the scope of the searches to material relevant to specific federal … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Govt couldn’t use “all records exception” because of lack of PC support
Securities fraud warrant was way overbroad and can’t be saved by the “all records exception” to search defendant’s business and apartment and seize even personal records. The search was so intrusive it violated the Fourth Amendment because there wasn’t sufficient … Continue reading
TX: Texas Const. grants no special protection to third party information; here CSLI and numbers dialed
Third party cell phone information is not protected by the Texas Constitution. It grants no greater rights than the Fourth Amendment. If the drafters wanted it broader, they could have said so. The information was available to law enforcement under … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Officers knew or should have known target location was multifamily; SW for gun in one unit didn’t permit search of all five
“The issue in defendant Josue Olman Martinez’s motion to suppress is whether it was reasonable for officers to continue to search a property that they may have initially assumed was a single family residence once they knew or should have … Continue reading
S.D.Cal.: SW which was not overbroad merely by including a “tending to show” phrase
Scanning text messages on a cell phone at the border was reasonable. This wasn’t a full search, and this was just a “non-forensic scan” of the phone and not a “searching inquiry.” This led, however, to a search warrant which … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Clause in SW that is overbroad requires def to show what was seized under it
One overbroad clause in the search warrant didn’t require exclusion of the rest that was specifically covered. Defendant also didn’t show that which was seized under the overbroad section to have it excluded. United States v. Traum, 2016 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
OR: State didn’t show PC to seize all cell phones, cameras, and computers def might have to get one audio recording on his cell phone
There was an alleged domestic assault at defendant’s home. There was reason to believe the home security system and his cell phone would have evidence of it in an audio recording. He could also access the security system with his … Continue reading
D.N.M.: CA10 recognizes blanket suppression for a “general search,” but this doesn’t measure up; “excessive photographing” not violation of 4A
Defendant doesn’t adequately explain why complete suppression is required for the search being allegedly excessive. It is a remedy under United States v. Medlin, 842 F.2d 1194 (10th Cir. 1988), when the officers’ search is overly excessive, but this just … Continue reading
OR: Def didn’t abandon backpack by not affirmatively claiming ownership of it during vehicle search by consent
The officer had reasonable suspicion something was up and the driver of a van already stopped consented to a search of the van, but that did not include a backpack that didn’t belong to him. Defendant did not abandon the … Continue reading
OR: Search of computer’s browser history limited to the PC; here, 15 minutes, not two months; a computer is more of a “place to be searched” rather than a “thing to be seized”
Defendant was convicted of murder by child abuse. The only relation of a computer was his admission that he used a computer to search for symptoms when the child was sick 15 minutes before his 911 call. When the computer … Continue reading
ME: CSLI info properly seized by warrant on PC, rest of cell information suppressed because warrant was severable
The state obtained a search warrant for defendant’s CSLI and practically everything else it could get from the cell provider in an effort to link him and another to a structure arson. The trial court suppressed it all. On appeal, … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Seizure of cell phone incident to arrest was valid
“Here, the seizure of Fulton’s cell phone during his arrest fell squarely within the exception articulated in Chimel and Robinson as a seizure incident to arrest.” United States v. Fulton, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83014 (S.D.Tex. June 23, 2016). The … Continue reading
D.Md.: Fact the SW sought drugs necessarily permits a detailed search of small places; doesn’t make it a general warrant
The fact the search warrant sought drugs necessarily permits a detailed search of small places, but that doesn’t make it a general warrant. The good faith exception applies, too. United States v. Minnick, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80897 (D.Md. June … Continue reading